[sacw] SACW Dispatch #2 | 19 Aug. 00

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch #2
19 August 2000
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

[ This issue of the SACW dispatch is dedicated to the memory of a friend &
India's well known insurgent historian, journalist Arvind Narain Das whose
sudden death is a very big loss for Indian Media and scholarly circles. ]

#1. Pakistan: Devolution Plan - A revolution from above
#2. Indian Government interferes with Toronto art exhibition [Shame!!]
#3. India: Praful Bidwai on the State of Indian Media

#4. India: Press release Sadbawana march on 22.8.00
#5. India: Help re: Custodial Death case in Shiv Puri (Madhya Pradesh)

_____________________

#1.

DAWN
18 August 2000
Ayaz Amir Corner

A REVOLUTION FROM ABOVE

By Ayaz Amir

FOR once in our national experience reality outstrips the hype. The
devolution of power/local government plan announced by General Pervez
Musharraf is not a smoke conjurer's trick, promising the moon and
delivering a dunghill. It is the most serious attempt at restructuring the
Pakistani state in our history.

If the import of it has not sunk into most minds, I suspect it is because
most people have yet to read the text. Newspapers could have helped to
lighten the fog but by writing slipshod and superficial editorials on the
subject they have not hastened the cause of national understanding. They
need to re-examine this document with greater care.

As for myself I stand chastened. How many times must I not have taken
gleeful swipes at General Tanveer Naqvi and his National Reconstruction
Bureau, sincerely thinking that the wizards under his command purportedly
burning midnight oil, being political tyros, would produce a mishmash of
confusion and impractical wisdom. Regarding General Moinuddin Haider I
thought that his police reforms (put together by a focal group headed by
Zafar Iqbal Rathore) were no better than a pipe-dream. In the event the
local government plan and the police reforms are so nicely dovetailed with
each other that they make a seamless whole, creating a structure which is
more real democracy than the facades and the blown-up images we have
experienced in the past. To both the generals therefore I hereby tender
(for what these are worth) my profoundest apologies.

But my humility comes with a rider. Will General Musharraf stick to this
plan? I say this because over the last ten months his government has turned
the notion of a slip betwixt the cup and the lip into an art form. So many
bold decisions announced with great fanfare have been followed by the most
comprehensive retreats. For General Musharraf's sake I hope it is different
this time.

But back to the plan. For most of our lives we have moaned about the
over-concentration of power in the bureaucratic state. Well, here at a
blow, the bureaucratic state stands denuded of its foundations. The office
of district magistrate, the viceregal state's representative in the field,
stands abolished, with an elected office-bearer, the district nazim,
becoming the executive head of the district. The mandarinate has taken the
killing of democracy in its stride, indeed participating in the funeral
rites whenever the occasion has arisen. Through upheavals and disasters it
has remained unmoved, secure in the knowledge that even if the mountains
walk to the sea its power and privileges will remain untouched. How then
will this most powerful of tribal orders survive the death of the district
magistrate?

Nor is this all. As if to prove that when misfortunes come they come not
in single files but battalions, the office of commissioner has also been
abolished. The death sentence is a model of brevity: "The Division as an
administrative tier will cease to exist." That is all. No extended
obituaries. At a stroke the most redundant, the most useless, the most
obstructive tier in the obsolescent administrative structure of the
Pakistani state is hurled into the trashcan of history.

These reforms should have been introduced by the tribunes of the people,
by the titans of democracy. This is what makes the heart weep. Out in the
political wilderness these fearless souls fulminate in the harshest tones
against the bureaucracy; in power they lose no time in falling into its
lethal embrace. It now falls to a military dictator to herald these long
over-due changes. Maybe his motives are suspect. Maybe he wants to prolong
his rule (something which every wise man will take as a strong
probability). But no matter. The spinoff effects of an invention are often
more important than the invention itself. So I think is true in this case.

Whether or not Musharraf nurses the ambitions of a Caesar, the changes he
has announced reverse a process rooted in the feverish climate of post-1857
India when, in the aftermath of the Mutiny or the War of Independence (take
your pick), the British sought the security and preservation of the Raj in
a powerful executive, from the district magistrate at the bottom to the
viceroy at the top.

Just consider the sweep of the proposed changes. The deputy commissioner,
stripped of his powers and in his new incarnation as District Coordination
Officer responsible for overseeing the work of the various district
departments, viz. health, education, highways, etc, and reporting to the
district nazim. The superintendent of police also reporting to the nazim.
In both cases the evaluation reports of these officers will be initiated by
the nazim who, should the need arise, will also be able to have them
transferred after showing due cause. At the district level this is a
radical shift of power.

Similarly at the tehsil level, the tehsil nazim will be the head of the
tehsil administration. Municipal committees and corporations will be done
away with and the tehsil administration will look after town and country.
Only the four provincial capitals plus Islamabad will have city
governments, later to be extended to some of the other metropolises in the
light of the experience gathered.

The zila and tehsil councils will approve the budget (to be prepared under
the direction of the nazims), will levy taxes and oversee the functioning
of different district and tehsil departments through a mechanism of
committees, etc. They will also have the power to recall or dismiss the
nazims, there being a procedure for this. But in essential respects the
source of local power will be the respective nazims and not the councils.
My hunch is that in good time this 'presidential' system will be the model
for the provincial and federal governments as well - with power vested in
an executive not answerable, except in a roundabout way, to the elected
assemblies.

To draw comparisons with the Ayub and Zia models of local government will
be fallacious because in those cases power was firmly in the hands of the
bureaucracy. Here power in the real sense of the word is being devolved, in
quite a radical manner, to elected representatives. The benefits for the
military government are obvious. It will get a popular base which will have
a vested interest in the success and continuity of the Musharraf regime.

Broad participation, coupled with the destruction of the old viceregal
structure, will have an electric effect on small towns and villages where
the shadow of the bureaucracy has always loomed large. As the political
parties become further marginalized and irrelevant a new political game
will be called into existence which will see not only the deputy
commissioner but also the old political guard consigned to oblivion.

What further consequences this has for the future of the country I cannot
say. All that can be said with certainty is that in preparing and outlining
its devolution package, General Musharraf and his colleagues, breaking with
established Pakistani tradition, have chosen the bold and intellectually
daring path, something which at least I had put beyond them. As the true
meaning of this plan starts sinking into the minds of the people at large I
have no doubt that there will be a scramble to board the wagon, especially
when district and tehsil nazims will be virtual governors and bishops in
their respective dioceses. Nothing like the prospect of power to change old
ways of thinking.

The heaviest strain will come on the Muslim League whose members, whatever
their imprisoned leader may say, will rush to join the hustings. The PPP
will be in a fix. Its leader is out, its local cadres too dispirited and
disoriented to make much of the local elections. As for the tonga parties
who have no muscle to influence any election, they can be expected to take
refuge behind an ultra-democratic line, decrying the Musharraf model as a
sidetracking of democracy. Ordinary people will not buy this line.The only
question is whether General Musharraf will have the tenacity to stick to
what he has proposed. As I have already said, his government's record in
this connection is not very encouraging. On so many occasions it has said
one thing and done another. Whether as a result of second thoughts,
late-night pusillanimity or bureaucratic resistance, there is a retreat on
this plan, what remains of the government's credibility will fall by the
wayside beyond hope of any recovery.

TAILPIECE: General Musharraf has asked his ministers to fan out and spread
the word about the good points of the local government plan. Not a smart
move at all. When ministers start saying something and Pakistan Television
picks up the refrain, people always suspect the worst.

______

#2.

INDIAN GOVERNMENT INTERFERES WITH TORONTO ART EXHIBITION

Press Conference
Date: Tuesday, August 22, 2000
Time: 10.00 a.m.
Place: ISC, University of Toronto, 33 St. George Street.

Speakers: Jamelie Hassan, London, Ontario, Coordinator Hoopoe Curatorial
Richard Fung, Toronto, participating artist in Dust on the Road and
Coordinator, Centre for Independent Visual Media and Education,OISE/U
of T
Lisa Steele, Toronto, video artist and co-director of V-Tape
Sanjay Talreja, Toronto, filmmaker, South Asia Left Democratic Allianc=
e
=20
In a move that resonates with the infamous case of the Indonesian governmen=
t
seeking Canadian help to suppress public demonstrations against Indonesia
during the APEC summit in 1998, Mr. Rajanikanta Verma, High Commissioner of
India to Canada, has successfully pressured the Shastri Indo-Canadian
Institute, a bilateral institution, to withdraw its support of the exhibiti=
on
Dust on the Road: Canadian Artists in Dialogue with SAHMAT. Dust on the Ro=
ad,
organised by Hoopoe Curatorial, is currently on display at Harbourfront
Centre's York Quay Gallery in Toronto. It features the work of nine Canadi=
an
artists in dialogue with SAHMAT.

SAHMAT is a nationwide network of artists in India whose critical work in
support of secularism, social justice and human rights has had a wide
impact in
India since its formation in 1989. The exhibition documents and protests t=
he
growing assault launched by a rising tide of religious fundamentalism on hu=
man
rights in India.

The High Commissioner's political interference is a serious attack against
freedom of expression in Canada and sets a dangerous precedent of tying gra=
nts
for research and the arts in Canada to the dictates of foreign governments.
The Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute's acquiescence to this pressure is a
violation of the principle of an arms-length relationship between the arts =
and
public funding institutions in Canada.

The McIntosh Gallery and the Visual Arts Department at the University of
Western Ontario in London, which jointly received the grant from the Shastr=
i
Institute on behalf of Hoopoe Curatorial's projects, have decided to refund
the
money in question rather than accede to the demands of the Indian governmen=
t.

The South Asia Left Democratic Alliance (SALDA), as a Toronto-based collect=
ive
working to defend and extend a democratic public culture in India and Canad=
a,
shares with Hoopoe Curatorial its outrage over this action. We jointly
demand
a public inquiry by the Government of Canada into the process by which this
political interference was permitted. We ask that High Commissioner Verma=
be
reprimanded for having overstepped his diplomatic privileges, and that the
Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute retract its decision and offer a public
apology.

Posters by SAHMAT will be exhibited at the Press Conference.

Media Contacts:
Jamelie Hassan, Hoopoe Curatoral: (519) 679-8018
Peter White, Hoopoe Curatorial: (514) 276 3921
Arlene Kennedy, Director, McIntosh Gallery and the Visual Arts Department,
University of Western Ontario:
(519) 661-3181
Sanjay Talreja, SALDA: (416) 532-3122
Tariq Khan, SALDA: (905) 949-0165; Aparna Sundar, SALDA: (416) 465-9006

------ 30 -------
=20
Indian Government interferes with Toronto art exhibition
- The background

In 1997, Hoopoe Curatorial launched an ambitious four-year project aimed at
creating an awareness of issues shared by artists in Canada and India. They
received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Shastri
Indo-Canadian Institute and the McIntosh Gallery and the Visual Arts
Department
at the University of Western Ontario. The exhibition Dust on the Road is pa=
rt
of this four-year initiative. It presents a survey of the works of SAHMAT
(Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust), a nationwide network of artists in India wh=
ose
critical work in support of secularism, social justice and human rights has
had
a wide impact in India since its formation in 1989.

SAHMAT, whose name means "agreement" in Hindi, has produced contemporary ar=
t
exhibitions, mobile educational and history projects, interventions,
performances, posters, postcards and books. Founded in the memory of write=
r
and street theatre activist Safdar Hashmi following his politically motivat=
ed
murder on the streets of Delhi in 1989, SAHMAT has documented and protested
the
vicious assault launched by the rising tide of sectarianism and religious
fundamentalism on the basic rights of minorities, women and lower caste peo=
ple
in India.

The Canadian curatorial team of Hoopoe Curatorial - Jamelie Hassan (London,
Ontario-based artist and activist), Peter White (Montreal-based curator and
former director of the Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina) and Phinder Dulai
(Vancouver-based author of Ragas from Peripheries, Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp
Press, 1995 and Basmati Brown, Roberts Creek, BC: Nightwood Editions, 2000)=
-
seeks to cut across differences in language and location and to present an
active dialogue of global citizenship and civil society in a visual arts
exhibition. In addition to the work of SAHMAT, Dust on the Road features t=
he
work of Canadian artists Stephen Andrews, Shelly Bahl, Michael Belmore, Car=
ole
Cond=E9 and Karl Beveridge, Millie Chen, Stan Denniston, Richard Fung, Amel=
ia
Jim=E9nez and Arthur Renwick. Their work addresses similar themes of huma=
n
rights and freedom of expression. The exhibition, also supported by Raj Pal=
ta:
Toronto's South Asian Youth Magazine, the A-Space Community Arts Biennial 2=
000
and the London Community Foundation, plans to tour to London, Montreal and
Vancouver, incorporating contributions from artists in each Canadian commun=
ity
in which it is shown, before travelling to India.

To date over 8000 people have visited the Toronto exhibition. The guest bo=
ok
is filled with positive comments that suggest a Canadian public eager to
discuss and debate the issues raised in the exhibit: "It's wonderful to see
artists connecting with the so-called lay persons and reminding Indians of
their secular tradition and reality" and "As a West Indian / Canadian I tak=
e a
lot of things for granted like freedom. Thank you for making me more socia=
lly
conscious about this matter."

However, since its opening, some Indian diplomats have been anything but
positive about the exhibit. The Consul General of India, Mr. C.M. Bhandari,
was
present for the inaugural talk by SAHMAT representative, photographer Ram
Rahman. Mr. Bhandari was not present in his official capacity nor did he
identify himself to curators and artists. After the talk he had a discussio=
n
with Ram Rahman and others around him in which he expressed his displeasure
about reference in the talk to attacks on artists and journalists in India =
and
the threat to democracy represented by such actions. He expressed his
position
in an interview with NOW Magazine (NOW, June 29-July 5, 2000), in which he
declared himself "totally astonished" by the political nature of the work,
claiming that "this kind of complaint, which is against one political
party, is
propaganda."

Jamelie Hassan, co-curator of the exhibit, has lodged an official complaint
about the Indian Consul General's behaviour with External Affairs Minister
Lloyd Axworthy.

On July 23, the Indian High Commissioner came to Toronto to visit the
exhibition. According to gallery staff, he was accompanied by the Consul
General. India Abroad, a community newspaper, quotes his response: "Indian
High Commissioner Rajnikant Verma told India Abroad that the exhibition was
devoid of artistic, literary or cultural merit. He called it a work of
fiction
rooted in jaundiced imagination." (India Abroad, August 4, 2000)

In the following days, Mr. Verma brought pressure to bear on the Shastri
Indo-Canadian Institute. On July 27, Prof. Hugh Johnston, President of the
Institute, wrote to the University of Western Ontario, through whom the mon=
ey
for the SAHMAT exhibit had been given:

"Through a direct communication to the Shastri Institute from Mr. Rajanikan=
ta
Verma, High Commissioner of India, the Government of India has objected to
this
exhibition and to the association of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute wi=
th
it....In response to the objection on the part of the Government of India, =
the
Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute is requesting you to ensure that its name b=
e
disassociated from this exhibition. Please ensure that no funds provided t=
o
the University of Western Ontario for the Seed Grant for India Studies are
used
in connection with this exhibition. Please also ensure that the Shastri
Indo-Canadian Institute's name is not noted as a supporter in connection wi=
th
any future showings of this exhibition. Please advise the organizers of the
"Dust on the Road - SAHMAT" exhibition of the same."

On August 10, the McIntosh Gallery and the Visual Arts Department at the
University of Western Ontario made a decision to forgo the grant rather tha=
n
accede to the demands of the Indian Government. "In my view the request is =
a
violation of two fundamental tenets that are central to any university and =
all
public art galleries including the University of Western Ontario and the
McIntosh Gallery: ...the principles of academic freedom and arms-length
relationship," said Arlene Kennedy, Director of the McIntosh Gallery and th=
e
Visual Arts Department.

The Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute is a bilateral institution funded not o=
nly
by the government of India but also by the Canadian government. The Board o=
f
Directors is made up largely of distinguished Canadian academics. Discussi=
ons
between Hoopoe Curatorial, the McIntosh Gallery and the Visual Arts Departm=
ent
at the University of Western Ontario, and the Shastri Institute have been
ongoing since 1998. In 1999, Hoopoe Curatorial, as part of their project i=
n
India, donated a significant collection of 300 books of contemporary Canadi=
an
cultural material to the Shastri Institute's library in New Delhi. The
Institute's funding for the exhibition was based on knowledge of the
involvement of SAHMAT in the exhibition. Withdrawal of support at this lat=
e
stage without any substantive explanation sets a dangerous precedent for no=
rms
of accountability and due process within Canadian public institutions.

The South Asia Left Democratic Alliance (SALDA) is a Toronto-based collecti=
ve
formed with the aim of defending and extending a democratic public culture =
in
India and Canada. It is concerned that this interference by the Indian Hig=
h
Commissioner extends to Canada the growing trend within India of suppressin=
g
dissenting voices. It is drawn by its commitment to social justice, democr=
acy
and secularism to support Hoopoe Curatorial in its protest.
______

#3.

INSAAF International

A Demand for Justice

Press Release

Bhatinda 16.8.00

Today India is faced with a threat to its unity, secularity, and
sovereignty from handful of fundamentalist and fascist forces. Secular
organizations see the dangerous growth of fascism in the country. Insaaf
International has launched a campaign to oppose and fight the forces of
fascism, communalism, majoritarianism and of disintegration with whatever
means that are at its disposal.

It is a duty of every democratic and secular citizen, all-progressive and
leftist forces, intellectuals, writers, media and particularly youth of the
country to come out of their slumber and support this issue. A silent and
peaceful march on 15, July 00 organized by Insaaf International to
emphasize secular and democratic nature of our country and a tradition of
brotherhood and religious tolerance could not take place as scheduled due
to heavy rains and flooding of the city. Now the =EBSadbhawana March=ED wil=
l be
taken out on 22.8.00. It will commence from Sports Stadium, Bhatinda at 9
AM and after passing through main Bazaars of the city, it will conclude at
district courts. A memorandum signed by groups and individuals from all
over the World will also be submitted to the President of India with copies
to Prime Minister Sh. A.B. Vajpai and Home Minister Sh. L.K. Advani through
DC Bhatinda.

Christian, Sikh, Muslim and Hindu community from Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab
and secular and democratic forces are participating in this 'Sadbhawana
March'. We call upon all the political leaders, democratic, secular and
social organizations, educational institutions, social clubs and right
thinking people to join the march.

Dr. Vineeta Gupta
General Secretary, Insaaf International
Email: insaaf@g...,
Website: www.geocities.com/insaafin

______

#4.

Praful Bidwai Column
21 August 2000

MURDOCH WITH MORE TRIVIA:
RICH MEDIA, POOR PUBLIC

By Praful Bidwai

The untimely death of Arvind Narain Das at 52 is an appropriate occasion to
pause and reflect on the state of the Indian media, especially the press.
What makes this particularly timely is a sour irony: the newspaper (The
Times of India) which gave Das his first job as a writer didn't carry the
news of his death or the long condolence message by Prime Minister
Vajpayee. This irony is part of a greater paradox that marks the Indian
media today in its choice of what is considered relevant or newsworthy, and
how stories and analyses are either highlighted or censored. It is also an
eloquent comment on the place of journalists within many of our media
organisations.

Even a cursory glance at India's "national" newspapers and magazines should
convince one that they are in the grip of a new kind of frivolous,
garbage-promoting journalism. This paradigm is shockingly insensitive to
what is of real concern to flesh-and-blood people, especially the vast
majority of our poor, and perversely partially to the glitterati and the
chattering classes. Big newspapers vie with one another not to break
stories, investigate and expose what's wrong with our society and politics,
or carry penetrating analyses of our reality, but to glamorise, titillate,
and trivialise. For some of them, the top priority is not news or analysis,
but their tawdry colour supplements which voyeuristically peep into the
lives of the super-hedonistic metropolitan elite that constitutes less than
one-thousandth of our population.

Over the past few years, there has been a conscious "dumbing down" of the
media, a deliberate attempt to play down what is relevant and serious, and
play up what is trivial but tackily fashionable. Thus, Miss World stories
replete with mindless quotes from dumb models are given a higher priority
than reports on victims of cyclones. A cruel 40 percent increase in
ration-shop food prices merits marginal attention in relation to
"feel-good" reports on rich millionaires' exploits abroad. Wars are
glamorised and turned into spectacles (witness Kargil) while the struggle
of millions for survival is pushed into obscure spaces.

Through most of our magazines, you wouldn't know that more than 60 percent
Indians survive on less than one dollar a day, that our health services are
near-collapse, or that poverty levels have significantly risen in the past
decade despite six percent growth. Nor would you be able to divine that
Information Technology "Superpower" India only commands 0.7 percent of the
global market in computer software, or that HIV-AIDS is spreading here
twice as fast as in the rest of the world.

Equally distressingly, the media shows less and less discriminating or
balanced judgment while separating bold and forthright reporting from pure
hate speech. Intemperate attacks on religious minorities or Sena threats to
kill non-conformists are treated on a par with genuinely secular appeals
for tolerance. Headlines in most papers show strong biases: telecom
"liberated" (i.e. privatised, with harmful consequences for network
expansion), and imports of 1,400 items "freed" (when reckless and
unregulated agricultural imports could ruin millions of livelihoods).
Another example is: India "conquers" Pakistan in cricket, or "thrashes" Sri
Lanka, but is only "defeated" by X or Y. What takes the cake, of course, is
the memorable headline: "India, Beauty Superpower, wins the Miss Universe
crown". This is when India's women have worse malnutrition levels than
women in sub-Saharan Africa-after a whole decade of economic collapse, war
and famine. What matters is not the truth, not facts, but the "feel-good"
factor, the daily steroid the elite so desperately needs.

As part of this dumbing down, many newspapers have sharply cut serious
international coverage (now largely reduced to the US, UK, Pakistan and
NRIs). The overwhelming "India angle" here narrows down everything. Through
our press, you would never guess there is 10 percent-plus unemployment in
the European Union or economic stagnation in Japan. Most publications have
reduced economic journalism to mere corporate reporting, much of it
breathlessly uncritical. Their coverage of science, health and the
environment has declined in quality and quantity. The space for comment and
analysis has considerably shrunk. Reviews of books, arts, music and the
theatre-in which quality papers take legitimate pride the world over-are
disappearing from Indian dailies.

This has nothing to do with economics. Indeed, our biggest newspapers have
never been affluent than they are today. Some of the richest among them
earn profits of $100 million or more-the same level as the top papers in
the West. But a peculiar kind of competition is afflicting many, thanks to
predatory pricing. This means only the top two or three papers can survive
in each big city. The others all lose. This can only undermine plurality
and variety.

True, there are exceptions to this trend. But the dominant paradigm is
"Murdochisation", i.e. the violent reshaping of media institutions in the
fashion typical of Rupert Murdoch although without him. Murdochisation
involves the destruction of the media as a responsible institution which
disseminates information and responsibly promotes debate. It means
obliterating the distinction between the editorial and business functions
of a publication. Murdoch has taken over numerous quality newspapers and
turned them all into cheap tabloids: nude women on page three, and
fabricated news stories elsewhere...

Three tendencies mark the "Murdochisation without Murdoch" phenomenon in
progress in India under our own press barons. First, the total
subordination of the editorial process under the management, and loss of
editorial independence, undermine both the freedom of expression and
thoughtful, wise editorial judgment. They spell blatant censorship of a
kind that the worst of dictators might hesitate to enforce. For instance,
Murdoch cut off the whole BBC transmission to China via his satellite
because it was critical of the Beijing regime and spoiled his market.
Similarly, some of our own papers tried their best to suppress and play
down the Srikrishna Commission report and its indictment of the Shiv Sena.

A second ingredient of Murdochisation is complete contempt for truthfulness
and honesty. To quote a commentator: "Mudoch thought it was a great idea to
publish Hitler's fake diaries, though he had been warned they were phony.
When the hoax was exposed, he shrugged it off, saying, 'After all, we are
in the entertainment business'...." One of Murdoch's papers long carried on
an irresponsible anti-science campaign, questioning the existence of an
AIDS epidemic in Africa. Our own Murdochs too have no use for morality or
decency.

Murdochisation's third component is promotion of hard right-wing agendas a
la Margaret Thatcher. Translated into the Indian case, this takes the form
of promoting Hindutva, Pakistan-bashing and virulent nationalism. A new
kind of hate journalism has now sprung up in some magazines which maligns
all decent, humane and secular causes.

Human rights advocates, feminists, secularists or Dalit activists are all
branded as jholawalas, hopeless romantics, and "Subaltern Sartres" with
"termites in [the] spine and fungus in [the] brain." When such slander
takes over, abuse replaces argument. Reasoning goes out of the window.
Maliciously mindless one-liners substitute for analysis.

This dangerous trend must be resisted. Or else, our media will lose its
relevance. In the last analysis, it is only because the press plays the
function of a witness or chronicler, a forum of debate, and at times a
whistle-blower, that it enjoys public respect and credibility. Over the
years, our media has attracted different kinds of talent and expertise. The
"magazine revolution" of the post-Emergency period and the efflorescence of
investigative journalism subsequently drew in a lot of idealists and
activist-minded journalists. The 1980s also saw the entry of academics and
scholars. Arvind Das belonged to this category. He enriched our
understanding of Indian society, particularly Bihar, on which he wrote
brilliantly.

Das was not just intellectually gifted. He also brought with him the asset
of a strong left-wing background: Naxalism of the late 1960s, which
exercised a magnetic influence on the cream of Indian youth. It was no
coincidence that Das was a topper and president of the St. Stephen's
College union. Das was trained as a historian and could easily have
flourished as one. He came to the media more out of a sense of mission than
from wanting a job. As someone who introduced him to The Times of India, I
can testify to this.

Das went (not too successfully) into television-largely driven out from The
Times by negative internal changes. His death represents a loss to serious
journalism dedicated to progressive causes such as social justice and
secularism. It also underscores the need to defend that tradition of
journalism and reaffirm its relevance today. In the last analysis,
journalism can sustain its claim to being something like a noble profession
only to the extent that newspapers don't get reduced to just another
commodity in the marketplace, but convey positive values, and provide space
for purposive news-gathering, serious analysis, and thoughtful comment on
the issues of the day. The media can't enrich itself by keeping the public
information-and knowledge-poor.--end--

______

#5.

[19 August 2000]

Dear Friends,

This is to seek your advice and involvement on the Shivpuri (Madhya
Pradesh) incident of December 1999 to the present. Ms. Gayatri Sharma, who
shared her experience of custodial violence and rape by the District
Collector and SDPO, has approached us for help and intervention.

We have been informed that Ms. Sharma was arrested, on the 21st December
1999, along with 5 of her family members and one colleague after an
altercation about a road accident with a truck driver, District Collector
and the police. The family members included her two younger sisters, her
mother, two younger brothers, one of whom is a minor. The detenus were
brought to the local police station and kept there, without the presence of
a single Mahila Police.

She shared that the Police along with the District Collector, SP and the
SDPO physically assaulted all the detenus, and tortured them through the
night. They were arrested at about 2 pm on the 21st December 1999, under
sections 307, 342 and 395 of the IPC, and produced in court at about 5pm
on the 22nd December, from where they were taken in remand. Ms. Sharma
shared that she did not see any magistrate in the court at the time, but
that she and others were made to sign some papers. From here the men were
sent to the Shivpuri Jail, but the women were taken back to the Police
station, and put back into the lock-up. The Mahila Police were present in
the court, and left from there.

Ms. Sharma states that the District Collector, SDPO and the SP beat her
up, and then they left in the late evening. She says further, that the
District Collector and the SDPO came back the same night, very late, had
her brought out of the lock-up, and then raped her one by one. She says
that she was raped thrice, twice by the District Collector and once by the
SDPO. She says that she was threatened that if she did not submit and
remain silent then her sisters would be brought in, and her children, (who
were at home with her elderly father) would be killed.

She along with her mother and sisters, accompanied by two women police,
were taken to the Gwalior Jail the next day 23rd December, at about 1 in
the noon, reaching the jail 5 in the evening. She was in jail for 3
months, and was able to come out on bail on 2nd April. The last person was
released on 8th April. After sharing her situation with other groups and
individuals, she filed a complaint case against the District Collector and
SDPO for custodial violence and rape, on the 28th April, before the CJM.

The charges made by Ms. Sharma are extremely serious and of far reaching
consequences. We have gone through some of the documents, and have spoken
to Ms. Sharma at length. We have also seen an email letter by Mr. Vivek
Pandit of Bombay who belongs to the Samarthan group, is the Executive
Director of National Center Advocacy Studies, Pune, and also advisor to
Adharshila, an advocacy group based in Bhopal. Mr. Pandit looked into the
case, and sent his observations to the State Human Rights Commission,
which was forwarded by the District Collector to two donor agencies. The
letter, while not denying the possible excesses of the police, and
accepting the illegal breakdown of the office of Rihai, (an organization,
with which Ms. Sharma was working), states clearly that he is convinced
that the rape did not take place, as he cannot understand the silence of
26 days, maintained by Ms. Sharma. He also expresses concern that these
could be trumped up charges by the CJM against the District
administration, and shows a serious breakdown in the overall governance of
the Shivpuri district. We have also seen a letter by the District
Collector, in which he alleges that Ms. Sharma is a woman of "suspicious
character" and also that the CJM has conspired against him, and is using
Ms. Sharma to settle scores against him.
In the meantime, Ms Sharmas fellowship from Samarthan (of which Mr. Pandit
is a part), which was the sole means of survival for Ms. Sharma and Rihai,
has been arbitrarily stopped, with out any explanation

It is our observation that in view of the seriousness of the charges, and
the wide-ranging concerns that are implicated, it is essential that a
group of experts, drawn from the womens movement and human rights groups
must come forward and conduct a independent fact-finding, in order to
surface the truth.
We strongly believe that a larger group needs to come together to not only
for this particular case but also to engage in activism against custodial
violence against women by state authorities, and regular flaunting of
legal provisions that ensure the rights of women who are arrested.

We request your support in the following:
* Constituting an independent fact finding group to investigate the
incident. (We are suggesting a list of names and request your feed back and
further suggestions, by 20th August, on phone fax or e-mail)* Support in
publicizing the report of such a group and taking forward its
recommendations* Being part of a campaign protesting against such custodial
violence against women.* Recommending the inclusion of other allies in
this campaign, who have been working on similar issues.* Raising
resources urgently for supporting the campaign.
The matter is of utmost importance, and as such we would appreciate an
immediate response.

In solidarity,

Shalini Kamboj
Secretary, CCVAW for
Arundhati, Jashodhara, Padmaja, Shashi, Shalini, Malini, Gayatri Devi
Parmaar, Tulika, Huma, Afsar Jahan and others.
aali
C-33 A, Sector A, Mahanagar, Lucknow-226006, Uttar Pradesh, India.
telefax: 00-91-522-3269366

______________________________
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